


Jacob's Fear

by hamelott



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Episode: s03e10 And the Wrath of Chaos, Gen, Jake's Deal With Magic, also feel free to read as ship or platonic material, everything is going to be okay with these kids, only rated for mild language, supportive zeke and cassie, whatever floats ur goat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 06:42:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9807848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamelott/pseuds/hamelott
Summary: I received a request on tumblr about our favorite LITs talking about magic after 3x10 and it just...struck my soul. This is the result of that.





	

When Ezekiel and Cassandra peeked into the training room, they weren’t surprised when they found Jacob there, wailing into a punching bag. The chain it was strung up with rattled with each blow he delivered to it. Jacob himself was shaking, his face red and sweaty. His sleeve was rolled up, revealing the tattoo that was only now partially there. The other half of it had been delivered to Apep only a few hours ago, yet it didn’t seem like this one would be making a similar journey anytime soon.

“What do you want?” Jacob’s voice made both of them jump. Two pairs of eyes jerked away from his arm and met Jacob’s stony face. He was panting, placing a hand on the punching bag to still its swaying.

Ezekiel recovered first, a harsh smile pulling at his lips. “Just trying to figure out any other secrets you’re keeping. Apparently the only way to figure out that anything’s wrong with you is to either wait until the world’s about to end or spy on you!”

Cassandra elbowed him in the gut, but when she glanced at his face, she realized she didn’t need to. He had instantly looked guilty for what he’d said. He was just upset; it seemed they all were. She sighed. “What he meant to say is we were just checking up on you.”

Jacob shrugged at her, starting to peel off the tape that enclosed his knuckles. He wandered farther in the room towards a bench with a water bottle on it. “No need. I’m fine. If you wanna check up on anybody, it should be Flynn.”

Cassandra shook her head, stepping through the threshold into the room. Ezekiel followed close behind her. She told Jacob, “We already did. Mr. Jenkins says he’ll be okay; Eve’s with him now.”

“Well,” Jacob said, his head nodding a fraction, and he sat down on the bench, “that’s good. I guess something good came out of this damn thing.”

As he said this, he ran a hand roughly over the tattoo. He wasn’t even looking at it. Instead he watched the punching bag, still slightly swinging. Ezekiel and Cassandra shared a quick look before they timidly walked over to him, sitting on either side of him.

“A lot of good came out of it, Jake,” Cassandra said softly. She watched as his fingers subconsciously traced the black, bold lines. They stood out starkly against his skin; they were impossible to miss now. She only wished she’d seen them sooner. “I know you don’t like it, but-.”

Jacob cut her off with a sharp laugh, standing up and putting distance away from them. “Don’t like it? Cassandra, you guys-.” He growled a little bit, hands clenching at his sides. “You guys don’t get it. I know you’re tryin’ to, but you just don’t, okay? It’s so much more than that.”

“Then explain it to us!” Ezekiel suddenly burst. Jacob’s eyes turned wide and fixed on him, lips pulling down into a frown. Ezekiel huffed angrily. “Stop standing there pretending we’re your enemies. We don’t get it? Fine! Then make us get it. Stop acting like you’re by yourself because you’re not. You have us!”

Jacob continued staring at him for a long time, and Ezekiel didn’t break eye contact either. Cassandra squirmed uncomfortably next to Ezekiel, but she didn’t tear her eyes away from Jacob. This was important; he needed to know they cared.

Jacob eventually sighed, collapsing onto a bench across from theirs. He hung his head, hands instantly pushing into his hair and clenching again in frustration. It took a few moments, but they eventually heard an angry, “I’m scared.”

Ezekiel and Cassandra looked at each other. They hadn’t expected that. Jacob was a lot of things. He was brave, funny, smart, and caring and loyal in way that had made them want to be his friend at the very beginning of all this. He was also stubborn, pig-headed, and so protective of himself after being hurt after so many years, even if he didn’t like admitting it.

But he’d never been scared before. Not like this.

They heard him sigh again and noticed the way his shoulders were quivering. “I’m so scared. And it’s stupid, but I am. Magic scares the shit out of me because I don’t get it. And that’s really hard to say because I get a lot of stuff. And I know you guys trust it because it can do a lot of good stuff, but it feels like you’re always ignorin’ the bad things too.”

He lifted his head and as soon as Cassandra saw him rub at his face fruitlessly at a few tears that streamed down it, she couldn’t help jumping up and sitting next to him and wrapping her arms around him. She soothingly rubbed his back as Ezekiel got up as well, joining them on Jacob’s other side.

Jacob just shook his head. “We almost lost Flynn because of it. We almost lost Eve because of it multiple times. We almost lost you, Ezekiel. And we almost lost you, Cassandra. And…Mabel. We did lose her, and I know you guys weren’t too crazy about her, but she was me. She was me and I was her, and if she can die then…so can’t I? And all of you?” He smiled ruefully. “Call me selfish, but I’m not ready to lose any of you so soon. You guys…you’re family, and you’re the only family I have now.”

“Damn,” Ezekiel murmured next to him. He hung his head a little, shaking it. “I guess I never thought of it that way.”

Cassandra nodded. “Me neither.”

“Look,” Jacob said, voice soft, “magic is wonderful. I won’t ever deny that. It’s this beautiful, wonderful thing that gave us this life. But it’s also what made this job what it is. We’re not here to use it; we’re here to protect the world from it.” He laughed bitterly. “And, yet, I can’t even protect myself from it so what’s the goddamn point?”

A silence hung in the air. Cassandra kept one of her arms wrapped around Jacob’s, and he let her. Ezekiel, next to him, offered up a handkerchief, and Jacob, chuckling a little bit at the ridiculousness of Ezekiel with a handkerchief, used it to wipe off his face. They sat there, a huddled group of Librarians, doing what they’d been born to do: think.

Cassandra was the one who broke the silence. “Magic is scary.”

Ezekiel was next. “Magic is scary.”

“But it’s essential,” Jacob relented. “We do need it; today was proof of that. But we also need to respect it and understand that it can be useful. That it is useful and dangerous at the same time.”

“So we use it only when we need it,” Cassandra decided. Her hand rested on Jacob’s wrist. “And we work on learning it through other means than use.”

“And,” Ezekiel said, voice serious, “we talk to each other. I know we’re all pretty shit at that, but this year…there’s been too many secrets.”

Jacob nodded, his hand reaching and rubbing the tattoo again. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Cassandra said, hand instinctively combing through her hair that had only just been beginning to grow back from the surgery.

“Me too,” Ezekiel said. He suddenly grinned though, a blinding beacon in the dark room. “Even though, everyone knows, Ezekiel Jones does not keep secrets.”

Jacob snorted, elbowing him lightly in the side. “If you ever expect me to actually believe that, just know I’ll have it confirmed that you’ve been possessed or something.”

Ezekiel squawked indignantly, jumping to his feet and facing them. “Are you joking me right now? I’ve been the most honest person on this team!”

“Mm-hm,” Cassandra hummed, shaking her head with a smile. “And I’m sure the Prince of Denmark would just absolutely agree with that.”

Ezekiel pointed a finger warningly at her. “Hey, I told you about that in confidence. And just because I keep private information to myself about my past does not mean I’m not honest!”

Jacob laughed, standing up. “Dude, Webster’s exact definition of a secret is: something kept from the knowledge of others.”

Ezekiel scrunched up his face at him. “It worries me that you know the exact definition.”

Cassandra shook her head. She stood up as well, wrapping one arm over Jacob’s shoulders and the other over Ezekiel’s, leading them from the room. “You two are ridiculous. You wanna go watch a movie?”

“Oo!” Ezekiel chirped, brightening. He had a devious smile on his face as he said, “We should probably watch a Westerner as it’s the only thing that’ll actually make Stone feel better.”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Jones.”

“What?!” Ezekiel protested. “I thought we just made a promise to tell the truth. I thought you loved those types of movies. Y’know, like-.” He jumped in front of Cassandra and Jacob, pointing a pair of finger-guns at them, hips cocked forward in a very cowboy-esque stance. “Stick ‘em up! Gimme all your jewels!”

Jacob snorted. “Cut it out, Zeke. You look stupid.”

Ezekiel then held up Jacob’s wallet, smirking. “Who looks stupid now?”

He ran off ahead of them, one of his finger-guns still raised. He was laughing and shouting, “Pew, pew! You’ll never catch me!!”

“Oh this is ridiculous,” Jacob growled. He took off after him, shouting, “I swear to god, Jones, when I catch you, I’m gonna ask you to grill some shrimp on the goddamn barbie! How does that sound, huh?”

Cassandra laughed loudly, throwing her head back as she quickened her pace to keep up.

Everything was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Special shout out to the anonymous requester on tumblr!! If you're seeing this, thanks so much!! I hope the rest of y'all enjoyed. 
> 
> This was just basically my idea on how the other two agreed to lessen their use of magic because I think there must've been a big enough reason for Cassie to give in than what the show showed us.


End file.
